Syncom 3

LIVE

Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/syncom-3

  • Pioneer
  • NORAD 858
  • 1964-047A
  • Inclined geosynchronous

Current orbit

Where Syncom 3 is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
View on live map

Orbit began over the Celebes Sea

Orbit ends over the Celebes Sea

Sunlit since

Enters the Earth’s shadow

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches Syncom 3 go over, but a receiver still asks whether it is above the horizon. Say where you are and this card answers.

Your position is rounded to about a kilometre and sent only to the Orbinauts API, to find the pass.

No brightness has been published for Syncom 3, so it is not a naked-eye satellite and no city page carries pass times for it. Nothing here estimates one.

Seeing it

There is nothing to go outside for: it is too faint for the naked eye. It is still up there all the same, going round as it has since it was launched.

Timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched on Delta from Cape Canaveral. Source

  2. End of mission

    Its mission ended.

Summary

Over the Makassar Strait LIVE

Where is Syncom 3?

At 8:06:11 PM UTC Syncom 3 was over the Makassar Strait (0.7° S, 118.5° E), 35,780 km up, moving at 3.07 km/s and in sunlight.

What is Syncom 3?

One of the pioneers of spaceflight in an inclined geosynchronous orbit, in space since Aug 19, 1964; its mission ended in 1969.

Can I see Syncom 3?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Syncom 3, and nothing here estimates one; what it is now is a relic of the first years in orbit.

General

Launched
Ended
Remembered for
Being the first geostationary satellite, which carried live television of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics to the United States
Operator
NASA, for which Hughes Aircraft built it, then the US Department of Defense from 1965
Size
a drum 0.71 m across
Mass
39 kg
Typical altitude
35,741 to 35,780 km
Speed
about 3.08 km/s (11,100 km/h)

Latest orbital data

Position received
8:06 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
8:06 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
0.7° S, 118.5° E
Altitude
35,780 km
Speed
3.07 km/s (11,066 km/h)
Course
north
Light
In sunlight until 3:31 PM UTC
Inclination
7.2°
Orbital period
1,434.8 minutes
Orbits per day
1
This orbit
35,742 to 35,782 km
In shadow
57 minutes of each orbit
In view from
Within 7,940 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Sep 17, 2026, 9:04 AM, 1 day old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Sep 17, 2026, 9:04 AM, 1 day old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for Syncom 3, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
Close approaches to Syncom 3 are not available right now. Try again in a few minutes.

See every close approach reported in orbit.

Data and API

The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Sep 17, 2026, 9:04 AM, 1 day old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "SYNCOM 3",
  "OBJECT_ID": "1964-047A",
  "EPOCH": "2026-09-17T09:04:46.676928",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 1.00363134,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.00046387,
  "INCLINATION": 7.1857,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 63.4911,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 161.216,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 25.8479,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 858,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 5439,
  "BSTAR": 0,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -0.00000367,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}